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Chomsky at Riverside Church in New York

I have not been able to find an embed-able link to this video, but you can watch it on booktv.org. It's an historic talk given by Noam Chomsky on the 40th anniversary of the publication of his first politically-oriented book, "American Power and the New Mandarins". It opens with an introduction by Democracy Now host Amy Goodman, and was given in NY City's historic Riverside Church.

His talked spanned a number of topics, mostly critiquing the current world political economic system and its nefarious effects around the globe. Here are some choice quotes from the talk by Chomsky:

"Bailing out banks is not utmost in the minds of the people now facing starvation, not forgetting the tens of millions enduring hunger in the richest country in the world"

"The food crisis results from western lack of concern. A pittance by our standards would overcome its worst immediate effects. But more fundamentally, it results from the dedication of Adam Smith's business-run state policy."

And of course he encouraged the audience to stand up and act:

“That means tearing apart the enormous edifice of illusions about the markets, trade and democracy that have been assiduously constructed over many years, and to overcome the marginalization and atomization of the public,” he said. “Of all the crises that afflict us, I believe this growing democratic deficit may be the most severe.”